Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Mysterious "A"—And Mingchuan's Transformation

By the time he returned to his room, it was already the early hours of the morning. Wenxin had not yet come back. Mingchuan retrieved his datapad from under the bed—a product of the twenty-third century, its functions were a fusion of computer and smartphone. Mingchuan carefully typed out a message and sent it to a certain individual. "Now, let's see what his attitude will be. That guy... really, I wonder if he'll lose his head over the big picture again." With those words, Mingchuan casually set the datapad aside and promptly fell asleep.

About ten minutes later, Wenxin returned. She peeked into Mingchuan’s room. “Heh, this guy never takes care of himself,” she murmured, gently tucking the blanket around him with a kind, wifely touch. Suddenly, a message seemed to arrive on Mingchuan’s datapad. Wenxin was curious—who would be messaging him at this hour? When she opened it, all she found was a single line:

“Sorry, I can’t help you with this…”

The signature was simply “A”. Though there was more to the message, the datapad stopped loading because Wenxin’s fingerprint didn’t match Mingchuan’s. “‘A’? Who exactly is this so-called ‘A’? Could it be Instructor Anthony?” Wenxin was full of questions, but had no way to pursue the matter. “Wait—maybe I can check what Mingchuan sent!” she realized, only to find that Mingchuan had left no clues; all records had been wiped perfectly clean. “Then maybe I should try the higher-ups. Maybe I can use my clearance to find the message history between Mingchuan and ‘A’.”

But after Wenxin finished washing up, she received only a curt reply: “We cannot locate this on civilian networks. Please verify again.” “Not on civilian networks?” Wenxin pondered. “That makes some sense; after all, we’re both military personnel now and should be using military lines. But why would ‘A’ also be outside civilian networks?” Wenxin couldn’t be sure of “A’s” identity, but one thing was clear—“A” was no ordinary person, at the very least some kind of hacker. “Enough—I’ve found out about as much as I can. Best not to expose myself any further.” With that, Wenxin temporarily gave up her determination to get to the bottom of things.

The next day, Mingchuan rose early. Although Wenxin was sleeping right beside him, he was undaunted as he turned on his datapad. “Well, well, finally got what I wanted! I didn’t expect Wenxin to be so… well-hidden! But wait…” Suddenly, Mingchuan saw something that caught him off guard, prompting him to set the datapad aside and step outside. “So, someone as important as me has gone missing? Heh, could they be coming after me? Well, let them come! Who’s afraid?” With that, Mingchuan put the datapad down and began preparing breakfast.

About half an hour later, Wenxin woke up. “Mingchuan, time to get up! Huh?” But Mingchuan was already up. “Mingchuan? Mingchuan?” She called his name twice, but received no answer. Startled, Wenxin dragged herself out of bed, still half-asleep.

Of course, as soon as she stepped out the door, she saw Mingchuan making breakfast. “Wenxin, you’re up? It’s early!” Mingchuan greeted her, walked over, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. The gesture startled Wenxin. “Mingchuan? What are you doing? You… you kissed me first?”

“Heh, what? Is that not allowed?” Mingchuan didn’t seem to mind. “Who confessed yesterday? I’m just responding to your feelings after a day’s thought.”

“So after a complete change of heart, you actually agreed?” Wenxin suspected Mingchuan was up to something, but couldn’t quite figure out what he was plotting.

“Let’s just say I finally came to my senses. I don’t want Sierui interfering with my feelings anymore. (‘Mingchuan, I hate you!’)”

“All right, enough talking! Go wash up! There’s breakfast, and then we have our mission!” Mingchuan’s tone was unexpectedly gentle.

“Okay, I know!” After a mutual kiss, Wenxin set aside her suspicions and obediently went to freshen up…

——— Interlude ———

Just two more weeks, and we first-year high school newbies will be on vacation! Which means I’ll be able to return to my normal writing schedule. I’m a little excited!